An Excerpt from Scott Cohen's Manly Diary!

photo by scott cohen d'enhanced by ana traina

Dear Manly Diary,

Shipped out later than expected but arrived at destination with wind soaring at our back feeding the sails with a push from trade winds never known before.  Almost like God himself telling us to move on.  Searching for the Leviathan, the monster of the deep it felt like years had passed, suns had set, moons had risen and tides had ebbed and flowed like a woman's breast as she looks toward her man in the midst of a love so tender... it gets lonely on a boat. Sadly a plague had hit us upon the first port of call sending our chief cook running into the woods looking for what he thought were mushrooms of some sort.  He was lost forever it seemed, taken care of by that land of children's drawings in the sky and mammals slumbering in the sand.  Yet we, the rest of a hearty crew, all in place and living for one goal were going to be hungry, thirsty and rightfully so. I remembered Captain Cook.  Yes, Captain Cook of yore.  The great explorer and adventurer took it upon himself to please his mates with dishes from the seven seas and beyond.  He even took the time to gather all that information and put it into a "Still Room" book, a gift from an ancestor who bequeaths knowledge from their alchemist's room.  Where potions, recipes, cures and general knowledge is shared.  Most commonly known amongst women and their daughters, Captain Cook spent so much time upon the watery deep he became a mother to all those aboard his majestic vessels.  And so I, simple and unknown, but ambitious and righteous, received a copy of Cook's bible from someone, somewhere, from a generation long before mine.  I pulled it out of its hold, sitting ever so calmly against another well known read called, "The Girl with a Lagoon Tattoo"( a very exciting psychological sea mystery), and started to provide.  Bread, of course, was the page I turned to.  We needed bread most assuredly.  And so I began.  I put on my apron, walked into the galley, commanded the orders to pulldown sails and sit quietly in the ocean breeze so the bread could rise and deflate without much movement or change in temperature.  It took a few hours, 8 to be exact, but by Jiminey... I was thanked.  And my crew was fed.  Thanks be to God.  Thanks be to Captain Cook for showing me that it is not only a woman's place to be in kitchen but if need be a man.  A manly man at that, must do what needs to be done.  Necessity breeds capability and so as bread was made and mouths were fed I looked out onto the empty yet promising horizon and knew there was a lesson to be learned.  Like the bread we eat, like Cook, on his many travels, a true Captain rises to the task at hand and meets the needs of his young and forlorn.  So as I close this most personal entry to date, on the beginning of a new moon, I can only say this, "Man up boys, Man up!  There is adventure to be had!"  

photo by ana traina

Captain Cook's Whole Wheat SourDough Bread

The Starter:

It's a process but Cook's starter must spend 3- 5 days on calm seas, in the warmer temperate zones.  Don't let a draft or a cold snap hit it.  Know the weather and the sea before you begin. Stir it thrice daily keeping it in a barrel of some sort that will hinder any critter(man or beast) from entering.  It smells sour, pungent at first but if it gets too much so, it sits in warmth above its liking.  Put it in a cooler spot.  

Ingredients:

1 cup rye berries, freshly ground.  The Captain only found these berries once and found his sourdough to be most excellent but for most other times he used;

1 1/2 cups of whole rye flour

1 1/2 cups of water (not from the ocean mind you)

1/2 teaspoon of milk

1 grain (granule) of yeast

Mix all together until silky smooth like a pancake mix or the underbelly of a baby seal ( they are magnificent,  friendly mammals, seen on both coasts of America)

The Starter Mixture:

3/4 cup of Cook's starter ( keep the remainder refrigerated and replace whatever is taken out with equal amounts rye flour and water)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup water ( room temperature)

Mix this together and let sit for 12 -18 hours.

Dough Ingredients:

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 1/2 teaspoons salt 

cornmeal for dusting when baking.

Dissolve the yeast in warm water.  Stir the flour and salt together, add the starter mixture and the water, mix together until a soft dough.  Knead until it feels right, supple and elastic using cold water periodically on your hands to both add water to the mixture and to fully stimulate your bread.  You'll know when it's right.  Kneading, like good love making could take some time.

Form the dough into a ball and put into a bowl smooth side down and let rise.  2-3 hours later do it again.  Let it rise. 

Patience is everything.

Knead again and flatten out with a roller.  Cut into 2 or 3 pieces and fold each one into itself creating the shape you wish to have as a bread.  Dust a pan with cornmeal, create the loaf and warm the fire to 350.  Put it in and place water atop for 10 minutes or so at 3 minute intervals until the crust becomes a bit brown.  Then turn up the heat, put more wood on the fire and bump it up to 450.  Then bake for 30 -  40 minutes.  Out comes a perfect loaf.  

Feed as many or as few as you like.  Soup, butter, cheese, and most anything else will go well.

photo by ana traina

May luck follow your trails!